This is an opinion piece, and I anticipate a bit of flak from some people, but I write this post from a position as an editor, publisher and owner/founder of four successful online poetry groups. And do bear in mind, this piece has been written to try to help poets improve their chances of being noticed and possibly even published in due course.
How can you be taken seriously as a poet? Firstly there will be some who might reply that they don't really care whether they are taken seriously or not. But I suspect that most people who write poetry want their work to be taken seriously. At the minimum, most poets would rather not be ignored. And yet that is exactly what I see happening in my online poetry groups. Poeple post poetry that is ignored by most. Or it is poetry that fails to get accepted for anthologies or other publications.
Pen Names. Firstly, writing under your own name, or at least a pen-name that is not ridiculous is an absolute requirement. How you represent yourself is very important, Those who use contrived pen-names, or noms de plume that are jokey do not generally have their work taken seriously. At Wheelsong Books our editors tend to ignore those who we can't take seriously, and the first impression - the name of the poet - is important in setting the atmosphere for any review.
Emojis. Secondly, the use of emojis and other embellishment in a poem is often a turn-off to a reviewer or reader. The question must be asked: why does the poet use lots of smileys, hearts, and other emoticons in their work? Is it because they lack any confidence in their own writing? It is certainly a distracting feature, and as an editor/reviewer I tend to ignore poems with an overload of emojis.
Upper case lettering. Thirdly, poetry that is presented totally in upper case lettering seems amateurish. In old money, upper case lettering was considered shouting in text and social media cultures. In poetry, the overuse of upper case lettering makes it appear as though the writer is desperate to be noticed, and again, they lack confidence that their writing alone will keep the attention.
Be original. Fourthly, if you wish to be taken seriously as a poet, make sure your work is original. There is nothing worse in poetry than reading old, jaded phrases that others have used before. The forced rhyme or the predictable line is a clear indication that the poet is struggling to express themselves and maybe has lost their way.
AI Generated poetry. Finally, as an addendum to the last point, you won't be taken seriously (and may even be sanctioned) if you persist in submitting or posting poetry that has been generated by artificial intelligence. You would be surprised by how many posts each day we reject from our online poetry groups. You might also be horrified at the number of people we ban from the group if they persist in this practice. It's dishonest and might even be breaking copyright laws.
So there you have it. Five key points to remember if you wish to be taken seriously as a poet. I believe most of these apply to online poetry groups worldwide, and definitely apply in the publishing world.
Steve Wheeler
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
